Finding Lia
by Laitie
Summary: Lia's been missing for a month. The only people concerned? Her younger brother and sister. Will Gibbs and team help them? Will they find her? Is she still alive?
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: It was really hard for me to post this up here. I've had this idea for a long time. But was convinced no one would like it. So...I guess I need a lot of encouragement? Well, I have a rule, anyway. No reviews, no updates. So, yeah. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!_**

**_Oh, and shoutout to Athena (AthenaLarissa) for the final push to make me post this! You rock, girl!_**

* * *

"We're looking for Mr. Gibbs." The boy was almost a man, about the age of 16 with curly black hair and hazel eyes. His skin was pale, very pale. On his chest, he wore his visitor's tag stuck to his school uniform. It read "Giovanni." His younger sister, looking about 13, with matching curly black hair, hazel eyes, and school uniform, stood beside him holding a red pocket folder. Her tag read "Carla."

"He's not here yet," Tony said, looking up curiously from his paperwork. "What do you need him for?" This was certainly going to be interesting.

"Top secret," Giovanni said. His timid sister nodded and held the folder close, protectively.

Tony laughed. "Sorry, kid, but you can't just come up here and ask for Special Agent Gibbs without telling us why. It doesn't work that way."

Carla looked over at her big brother, who was trying to stare Tony down.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school, anyway?" Tony asked.

"No," Giovanni said.

"Then why do you have your school uniforms on?"

"Tony, give them a break," Ziva said, glancing up from her paperwork.

"School is very important!" Tony insisted. "I will not condone truancy."

"Truancy?" McGee asked, looking over at him from his own paperwork. "You know that word?"

DiNozzo gave him a face. "Yes, I know that word." He turned back to Giovanni and Carla. "So, what's so important that you have to skip school for?"

Giovanni bit his lip. "Fine," he said. "We need Mr. Gibbs because-"

"Ignore Agent DiNozzo," GIbbs said, coming around the corner into the pen. He went over ot his desk and sat down, looking over the two kids staring at him. Finally, he added, "What can I do for you?"

"You're Mr. Gibbs?" Giovanni asked as he and his baby sister walked towards his desk. Gibbs nodded. Giovanni took in a deep breath. "My mom was friends with your wife before she died. Kim Russo. But you probably knew her as Kim Dimarco." Gibbs nodded again, this time remembering the woman mentioned. She and Shannon had been good friends, indeed. Shannon was supposed to be Kim's Maid of Honor in her wedding before . . .

Giovanni nodded, too, and took in another breath. "Mr. Gibbs," he continued, "we need you to do something for us with the utmost secrecy. Will you do that?"

"Depends on what it is," Gibbs said.

Giovanni looked at his baby sister and nodded at her. She bit her lip, but held out the folder. "Sir," he said, turning to Gibbs, "we need you to find our sister." Carla opened the folder and dropped it onto his desk. Inside was the school picture of a girl around Giovanni's age with the siblings' curly black hair and hazel eyes. She, too, was pale against the white, collared top of her school uniform. The only difference between her and her siblings was that she wore no name tag.

Gibbs frowned and glanced through the folder's collection of stolen pictures of older versions of the girl and handwritten notes. Near the back, he noticed that the notes turned into full-length letters.

"She's been missing for a month," Giovanni said.

"Did your parents file a missing person's report?" Gibbs asked. Giovanni shook his head. Gibbs looked up at them. "How do you expect me to help you?"

"Please," the young man begged. "Our mom says that you're good at this kind of stuff."

"Then why didn't she come?"

The siblings frowned. "She doesn't know we're here."

"Why not?"

"Because she disowned Lia!" Carla spoke for the first time, forcefully. The pen went silent as Carla glared angrily at the folder on Gibbs' desk, too embarrassed to look him in the eye. Giovanni rubbed the back of his neck.

Finally, Gibbs let out a breath. "Your mother never was the forgiving type," he said. He remembered how Kim had blamed him for Shannon and Kelly's deaths, and broke off all connections to him. "Or reasonable . . ." She had also called him up and accused him of cheating when she had, somehow, learned that he had re-married.

The siblings nodded. "Neither is our father," Giovanni added. "Will you help us, then?"

Gibbs took a moment to think. He could put himself into big trouble if he helped these kids. Not only with Kim Russo and her husband, but with NCIS and Vance, since this wasn't an official case. However, there was a chance that this girl actually was missing. And something told him that Shannon would want him to help her friend's children, despite the friend's craziness. So, finally, he nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I'll do it."


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: Sorry it's so short. I'll try to update this weekend to make up for it! And thanks for the reviews, my lovelies!_**

* * *

"McGee, get a couple chairs," Gibbs called.

"Yes, boss," McGee said, standing.

"Wait!" Giovanni protested. McGee paused. "What time is it?" He looked down at his watch. "We have to get back to school!"

"Why?" Gibbs asked.

"What do you mean 'why'?" Giovanni shot back. "Because we're skipping!"

"Yeah. So you're already in trouble. Besides, you can't leave."

"We can't?"

"Nope. You started this. You've gotta stick to it."

"Can't we talk to you tomorrow?"

"Nope. Right here, right now. McGee, where are those chairs?"

"Uh, right, boss." McGee shook his head and walked around his desk to grab the chairs just outside his side of the pen.

The Russo siblings looked at each other nervously. "Our parents can't find out," Giovanni said.

"Well, you don't have any choice in that," Tony piped in as McGee sat the chairs behin the kids. The kids turned to look at Tony. "We have to question them."

"But you can't!" Carla protested.

"Carla, Giovanni," Gibbs said, waiting for the two to turn back to him. They did so, and he went on. "This is a very big thing you've started." He debated, but decided against telling them that their parents could very well be suspects, for all the knew. "Your parents have to be involved."

"But we know more than they do, anyway!" Giovanni insisted.

"We need their permission to ask you any more questions about it."

"Then we'll just tell you! No questions!"

"I can't take that information. Now, Ziva!" he called, looking up at her. She was still at her desk, this time on the phone.

"Calling their mother now," Ziva said.

"How'd you get her number?" Carla asked nervously.

"You gave your full names when you signed in," Gibbs explained. "We have access to a lot of information here. It was easy for Ziva to find it." The kids frowned. "It means it'll be that much easier for us to find your sister," he added, his voice as comforting as he could make it.

"Hello, Mrs. Russo?" Ziva said on the phone. The kids went pale and looked behind them to watch Ziva as she spoke to their mother. "My name is Ziva David, from NCIS." The siblings nibbled at their lips. "We have your children here, Giovanni and Carla. We need you to come down as soon as possible."

They heard a frantic woman coming from the other end. She was so loud and her voice so sharp that Ziva had to pull the reciever away from her ear a little bit.

"I'm afraid I can't give you that information over the phone," Ziva replied when the shouting had died down. "Please come down here as soon as possible." More shouting, then nothing. "Hello?" Silence. "Hello?" Dialtone. Ziva hung up as the Russo kids buried their heads in their hands.

"Whatever she does to you," Ziva said, looking at them, "it's worth finding your sister, right?" Giovanni blinked and looked up at her. He saw in her eyes things that he didn't fully understand. Loss. Regret. He frowned and looked over at Gibbs. His stare was trying to show him the same thing.

With a sigh, he nodded, understanding at least a little something. "Yeah," he said. "You're right."

"But she's-"

"It's for Lia," Giovanni told Carla, cutting her off. He looked over at her, and she faltered. She bit her lip, but nodded.

"Do you like movies?" Tony asked.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: So, I've been getting a lot of compliments about how I well I do the chemistry within the team (thanks!). But it was brief. I promise that I will get back to the team members, I just need to finish setting the foundation for Lia's story. There's still field work I have to have the team do, I promise! If not the next chapter, the chapter after that I'll have the team members really interacting.**_

* * *

Kim Russo stormed through the NCIS building. She felt like a momma bear whose cubs' safety was threatened. She bolted out of the elevator as soon as the doors began to open, hastily scanning the floor only to find cubicle walls blocking her view. She marched down the hallway by the windows first, wondering why her children weren't watching for her. Finally, she found her beloved babies at some man's desk, laughing at something on the man's computer screen.

"Giovanni! Carla!"

The Russo siblings went silent and looked over at their mother, standing there with her hands on her hips. She had the same, curly black hair as the siblings. But her eyes were a bright green. She wasn't sure if she should be angry or relieved right now. But considering that they looked quite well, she chose the former.

"What the Hell are you doing here!?" she demanded.

"Mrs. Russo," Gibbs said, standing. Her sharp glare snapped over to him. Recognition filled in her eyes. Then more anger.

"Leroy!" she demanded. "What the Hell are you doing with my kids!?"

"Calm down, Kim," he said, walking over to her. "They came to us."

"They what!?" She turned her glare back to them. Both had come around to the front of the desk, staring down at their shoes.

"Calm down," he said again. "We all need to go talk."

"We are not going anywhere to talk about anything," Kim said. She grabbed her son's arm. "We're going home." She turned and pulled her son with her. But he pulled back.

"No, Mom." Kim's eyes widened and she turned to see her son glaring back up at her. He jerked his arm out of her grasp. "You're going to let Mr. Gibbs talk to us."

"How dare you," Kim said, her voice low. "When your father hears about this-"

"I don't care." He turned and looked at his sister, still staring at the floor, but standing where she had been since their mother's arrival. "We don't care. This is important."

Gibbs glanced around at everyone in the room trying not to stare at them. "Kim, c'mon," he insisted, trying to keep his tone reasonable. "Let's talk about this in private."

As if just realizing they were in a public place, Kim glared around at everyone in the room. Her mind raced. What would her husband do? He would drag them out right then and there. But what was it they wanted to talk about? Was it . . . Lia?

With a sigh, she gave in. "Fine," she said. She calmed a little and allowed Gibbs to lead them to Interrogation.

* * *

"What are we talking about?" Kim demanded as soon as the door to the interrogation room was closed.

"Your daughter," Gibbs said, pulling one of the two chairs on one side of the table around to the other. He gestured for the family members to take their seats on that side.

"Carla?" She refused to sit, though her children did so.

"Your other daughter. Please, sit."

"I have no other daughter," Kim insisted, as her husband would want. "So if that's all you wanted, we can go."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "You and I both know you were pregnant when you married Mario."

She gasped. "How dare you!"

He shrugged. "Now, let's talk about that kid. Please, sit."

"That was a miscarriage," Kim lied, almost frantically. Mario, Shannon, and Leroy had been the only ones to know that. Ever.

"Kim," Gibbs said sternly. "Giovanni and Carla have already told me about Lia. I have evidence of her existance. Please. Sit."

Kim sighed and sat down. "I thought you needed my permission to talk to my kids," she said.

"I do," Gibbs said, sitting in his own chair on the other side of the table. "But I can't deny the fact that your children have told me that you have disowned their sister and now she is missing."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't suspect us, do you?"

"Let's just discuss Lia right now," Gibbs said. He turned to the kids. "When did Lia . . ." He glanced over at Kim. ". . . When did she stop living at your house?"

"Two years ago," Giovanni said. "I was fourteen."

"Why did she stop living there?"

"Because she was kicked out," Carla said bitterly.

"Carla!" Kim said.

"It's true!" Carla said, glaring up at the woman.

"I want a lawyer," Kim decided, looking up at Gibbs.

"We don't!" Giovanni said.

"Kim," Gibbs said, his tone going reasonable again, "this is about your daughter."

Kim glared at him, but she couldn't mistake the hurt in his eyes. She couldn't deny the memory of his losing his own daughter.

Kim faltered. "I am not taking part in this conversation," she said. She stood up and walked out the door.

* * *

Tony, Ziva, and McGee listened to Kim's high heels storm down the hallway.

"She's a weird one," Tony said.

"That's putting it mildly," McGee agreed.

"I'll go talk to her," Ziva said, noting the look Gibbs was giving them through the one-way mirror. She turned and headed out the door.

* * *

"Does that mean we can still talk to you, though?" Giovanni asked, back in the interrogation room.

"She didn't take you with her," Gibbs reasoned, turning back to them. "Why was Lia kicked out?"

"Because she got pregnant."

"Pregnant!?" Gibbs asked. "Where's the kid?"

"It was stillborn," Giovanni said sadly.

"Oh. OK. Where did she live after she was kicked out?"

"She lived with her boyfriend for a while," Giovanni said. "But then he kicked her out."

"Then?"

"Then she lived with friends here and there. New boyfriends here and there. But, Mr. Gibbs, I hated all those boyfriends of hers. They were all jerks."

"What do you mean?"

Giovanni and Carla both frowned. "They would hit her," Carla said softly.

"I'm going to need the names of all these friends and boyfriends," Gibbs said. "Can you do that?"

"They're in the folder," Giovanni said.

Gibbs nodded. "Good. Was she with one of these boyfriends when she went missing?"

"The worst!" Giovanni exclaimed. "Duane MacAfee. We hated him the most. But she just wouldn't listen."

Gibbs turned, again, at the one-way mirror. On the other side, Tony and McGee nodded and headed out of Observation to begin research on this last boyfriend of hers.

McGee frowned as they walked down the hallway. "Abusive boyfriend, then she goes missing?" he noted.

Tony nodded. "Let's hope we don't find her dead body."


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: Thank you so much for your lovely reviews!~ Please enjoy this chapter!_**

* * *

Kim had said she wanted a lawyer. But that didn't mean she could wander NCIS unaccompanied. Ziva took care of that. She caught up to the woman in the hallway.

"I said I wanted a lawyer," Kim said curtly.

"I didn't ask you anything," Ziva said simply. Kim turned her head away with a grunt and continued her stampede.

"Gibbs has no right doing this to my kids."

"He's not doing anything to them."

"He talked them into it, I know it."

"Mrs. Russo, none of us even knew your kids until they showed up a couple hours ago."

Kim gave another grunt. Ziva led her to the pen and sat her down by her own desk. She let the woman stew as she pretended to do the paperwork that still littered her workspace.

"My husband is going to be furious," Kim said softly. Ziva looked over at her.

"You were pretty furious, yourself," the agent said, offering no sympathy to the woman who had disowned her own daughter.

Kim sighed. "You don't understand."

Ziva hesitated. She was ready to all-out scream at the hypocritical woman. But that was unprofessional and potentially detrimental to the case.

"Your lawyer would suggest for you to stop talking to me right now," Ziva said coldly. Kim frowned but nodded.

A few minutes later, McGee and Tony came walking in and immediately set to work on their computers. Neither gave a single glance at Kim. Neither said a single word.

"What did they say?" Kim asked.

Tony looked up at her, his eyes hard. "You didn't seem too interested about that when you were in there," he said.

Kim sighed and looked over at McGee. But the other man offered no help, keeping his eyes intently glued to his PC.

She frowned and gave up. She stared down at her hands until her kids finally came back into the pen, followed by Gibbs.

"They're all yours," Gibbs told her. Kim let out an inward sigh of relief. But she didn't let them see that. Her face went hard.

"You two are in so much trouble," she said, taking Carla's arm.

"We don't care," Giovanni insisted, though he followed her and Carla out of the pen. Before leaving, however, he turned. "Thank you," he said to all of them.

Gibbs nodded, and Giovanni turned back, rushing to catch up with his sister and mother.

When they were gone, Gibbs looked around at his team expectantly. The team looked around at each other a moment before jumping into action.

"Duane MacAfee," Tony said, putting a picture of a large, dark-haired man on the large screen between his and McGee's desks. The team semi-circled around it. The picture was from Duane's driver's liscence. He sported a dark, messy beard and moustache. His eyes were a dark brown. Tony grimaced. "He's about as mean as he looks," he went on. "25 years old, arrested several times for assault. Works at a garage."

"And Lia?" Gibbs asked

McGee piped in, pulling Lia's school picture up on the screen. "Lia Russo," he said. "18 years old, now. Straight A's when she went to school, no marks on her record or anything. Dropped out two years ago. Probably when she got pregnant."

"Who got her pregnant?" Gibbs asked.

McGee pulled up another picture, this time of a man younger than Duane, with black hair and blue eyes. He was clean-shaven, and even handsome, many would say. "David Guise," he said. "He was a year ahead of her in the same school. 19, now. Graduated. Works at his father's bank."

Gibbs nodded.

"Nothing in common between these guys at all," Tony noted.

"Except Lia," Ziva said.

"So, what does she look for?" Tony asked.

"Let's go find out," Gibbs said.

* * *

"Lia Russo?" Mrs. Thompson inquired as she erased the dry-erase smartboard in her classroom. "Gee, I haven't heard her name in a couple years. Why do you ask?" She looked over at Tony and Ziva, gazing at her, notepads and pens in hand. Her hair was a dirty blond, her eyes a golden brown.

"She's involved in our investigation," Tony said. "Do you remember much about her?"

"Remember?" she said. "I loved the girl. Exemplary student. Sweetheart right down to the bone. But I wasn't much of a fan of her boyfriend, though."

"David?"

"Yeah. Is she still with him?"

"Why didn't you like him?" Ziva diverted.

"I don't really know," she said. "He was polite and everything. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. Well, that, and he got her pregnant, of course."

* * *

"He treated her wrong," Amy said before taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Wrong, how?" McGee asked. He had found Amy Palmer in the lunch room with her friends. She had been one of Lia's friends, and hopefully still was.

"Like her dad did," Sara answered for her from across the table.

McGee furrowed his brow. "What does that mean?"

Amy finished chewing. "Lia had bruises all over her arm," she whispered. "That's why she always wore the long-sleeved uniform. She was never allowed to hang out outside of school. No one was allowed at her house. It's the same with her brother and sister. Their parents are control freaks."

"So . . . They didn't know about David?"

"Hell, no. She would sneak out at night. Then get caught. Get yelled at. Get beat up. Then sneak out again. Just to be David's fuck buddy."

"And you said David was just like them?"

"He wouldn't let her eat what her parents packed her," Sara said. "He would have a separate lunch bag just for her. Or he would buy her lunch, choosing what she had. She thought it was 'romantic'."

"And you didn't."

"Do you think it is?" When McGee just shrugged, she added, "It was disgusting."


	5. Chapter 5

_**I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this up! My life is so crazy busy . And I had a block for a long time trying to figure out the best way to show you guys Mario. I finally decided, and wrote it out :). Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy!**_

* * *

Tony and Ziva pulled up to the barely-inhabitable house. After dodging in and out of traffic during so many cases, Tony had decided he would do all the driving when he and Ziva worked together. So he turned off the car, now, and examined the house.

"Does someone live here?" Ziva asked.

"Apparently," Tony replied. He unbuckled his seatbelt, as did she, and both opened their doors and climbed out of the car.

The house was more like a hunting lodge on the edge of the woods in Pennsylvania. There was a truck at the side the of the house, rusted at the edges and the red paint chipping. The paint on the house was chipping, too. But if it really was a hunting lodge, it made sense that no one really cared about how it looked.

What concerned the agents was its condition. The house was old and looked like it was about to fall down.

"It seems Pennsylvania's laws on inhabitable houses are very lazy," she said.

"Lax," he corrected her. "I guess so. Should we-"

He was interrupted by a loud gunshot from the backyard. Immediately, the agents bent down and pressed themselves against the walls of the house. He signed for her to go around the right side while he was to go around the left. She nodded and they did so, slowly. As he was making his way toward the backyard, he saw a man aiming a gun at the house. He couldn't waste any more time. He aimed his gun at the man and ran out.

"NCIS!" he shouted, "drop your weapon!" He didn't dare to look and see if Ziva was doing the same on the other side, but he trusted her enough that she was. Plus, the fact that the man was looking from him to something on the other side of the house told him so, too. The team members closed in on him as the shock sunk in on the man that looked a lot like Duane MacAfee's picture.

"Who the Hell are you!?" the man demanded, not dropping his gun, though not aiming it at anything anymore.

"NCIS," Ziva repeated for Tony. "Drop your weapon."

"I have a right to this gun," Duane said.

"We're not gonna take it, smart-ass," Tony said. "Just drop it."

Finally, Duane frowned and placed his gun on the ground. Tony kept his gun aimed at him while Zive went and grabbed it. She looked over to see he had been shooting at glass bottles held up on a rack by the house.

"You said you weren't gonna take it!" Duane demanded.

"We're just getting it out of your reach!" Ziva informed him, wondering how stupid this guy really was. Especially considering he had been arrested so many times.

Duane sighed. "What do you guys want, anyway?"

Once the rifle was out of Duane's reach, Tony put down his own gun. "We want to ask you a couple questions about Lia Russo."

"Lia?" Duane asked. "What's that whore done now?"

"What do you mean?" Ziva asked.

"I mean, she's been a pain in my ass ever since I met her."

"How so?"

"Always whining about this and whining about that and begging me for money or to take her somewhere."

"She didn't drive?"

"Nope," Duane said. "Her lazy-ass father probably never bothered to teach her."

"You knew her father?" Ziva asked.

"Hell, no," Duane said. "She never told me anything about her family. And I was just fine with that. She whined enough about her life."

"What did she 'whine' about?" Tony asked.

"Oh, she didn't like my hunting, or she wanted to eat healthier, or some other shit like that. Finally I told her to get the fuck out."

"Where did she go?"

"Hell if I know. I don't care, either. Are we done here?"

"Did you know any of her friends?" Ziva asked.

"Bitch didn't have any friends," Duane said.

"OK, thanks," Tony said with a nod. Ziva placed the rifle on the ground where she stood and walked away with Tony.

* * *

Mario Russo was in a meeting when NCIS came calling. So he had an excuse to act all pissed off when he was called out of it to talk to a couple of federal agents in his office.

"What is this about?" he demanded when the big-busted secretary had left, closing the door.

"Your daughter, Lia," Gibbs said calmly, watching him pace over to his big, mahogany desk. He glanced around the office, noting its plainness and simplicity. And perfection. Not a thing was out of place. The walls were blank, the bookcases practically empty. But on the desk sat the perfect picture of his perfect, smiling family, facing out for everyone to see. Of course, it was missing Lia. And something about everyone's faces in the photo showed that the smiles were fake.

"Lia is not-" Mario paused as recognition filled his face. "Leroy Jethro Gibbs. What business do you have with my family?" He glanced over at McGee. "And what's he doing here?"

"Your daughter has gone missing," McGee said. "We're the ones looking for her. We're federal agents."

"You want me to believe that you're a federal agent?" Mario laughed. Gibbs sighed and pulled out his badge, holding it out for Mario to see.

The arrogant corporate tycoon inspected the badge for a moment. His face slowly fell into a scowl. "And how is my so-called daughter's disappearance a federal matter?"

"I think you've asked enough questions," Gibbs said. "When and where was the last time you saw Lia?"

Mario sighed impatiently. "Last time I saw her, her pregnant ass was walking down the street, away from my house."

"She was sixteen years old, right?" McGee asked.

"I told her to go live with her whore grandmother. I called and told her to expect her. Not my fault the little slut didn't do as she was told."

"Why didn't you report her missing?"

"I knew where she was. At her worthless boyfriend's."

"And when he kicked her out?"

"Look, I kept tabs on her until she turned eighteen. Now I'm done with her. I don't know where she is, and I don't care."

His words stung. They would hurt anyone, of course. But they hurt Gibbs more. To not care about your daughter in the least. He couldn't fathom it. This man had a beautiful young woman as his child, and was just throwing away everything she was.

But he couldn't let his feelings get in the way. "Where was she, last you knew?" he asked, growing impatient and frustrated despite himself.

"At her boyfriend's. MacAfee. Go bug him, now. I've got work to do."

"We're not done," Gibbs said.

"Do you have any idea where she could have gone?" McGee asked. "Do you know of any friends she might trust?"

"No," Mario said sharply. "Now get out of here before I call your superiors."

Gibbs nodded a goodbye and led McGee out the door. McGee closed the door behind them as Gibbs examined the room. It was as empty as the office. When his eyes reached the secretary, she noticed that she kept glancing up at them nervously. He looked away and nudged McGee, very subtly pointing at her. McGee understood right away and the two casually walked in her direction.

"Miss," McGee asked, turning to her. "You don't know anything about Lia Russo's disappearance, do you?" He kept his tone soft, although he could hear Mario begin to shout on the phone in the other room.

The secretary bit her lip. "I heard you guys in there," she said softly. "The walls are so thin." The two agents nodded and she let out a breath. "Lia's my best friend." She glanced at the door and began to whisper. "Mr. Russo cancelled all his appointments one day last month and left the office at noon. I don't know where he went. But it was the day I tried to call Lia later and her phone had been disconnected." She frowned and looked at her hands. "It's like she fell off the face of the Earth."

"Where was she living then?"

"In a shelter. I think Ave Maria's Home for Battered Women."

Gibbs handed her his card. "If you think of anything else, let us know."

She took the card and buried it in her purse. "I will," she said. "Please find her. I'm really worried about her."

"Why?"

"She always has bad luck. And Mr. Russo, well, he's not a guy to piss off."

"You think she pissed him off before she disappeared?"

The secretary nodded. "She came in the day before to talk to him. I couldn't hear her, and she wouldn't tell me about it, but he was shouting about her having to 'repent' and start going to church and stuff. I could tell she was about to cry when she left. And he was in a bad mood for the rest of the day."

Gibbs nodded, remembering Mario's temper and commitment to the church quite well.

"Thank you," McGee said, and the two walked out.


End file.
